Hermione was slouched out on a large arm chair in the Gryffindor common room with Ginny, neither of them talking, just relaxing. She was gazing out the beautiful stained glass window, warm reds and yellows surrounded a majestic Griffin. The rain was beating hard against it, there was something comforting about it being so miserable outside when you’re comfy as cosy inside she thought as she continued to study the creature she once believed to be mythical, along with everything else that now consumed her entire life. As her eyes reached the bottom of the Griffin she noticed the Hogwarts motto was written across the bottom of the window “Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus” she laughed to herself as she recalled how many times she had looked it up as she refused to believe it meant “Never tickle a sleeping dragon”. As she looked again she got this awful feeling she had forgotten something, and then it hit her, Draco! She was supposed to meet him an hour ago as he had told her their potion was ready to be tested

“Ohh shit Gin I forgot I have to meet Malfoy for that stupid assignment we’re paired on”

“Hmmm” Ginny responded half asleep, not all that bothered by her leaving

Hermione quickly slipped on her shoes and hastily made her way out of the common room.

0o0o0

Draco was pacing the floor in temper. Hermione was late, and not by just a little bit, by an hour!

“How dare she hold me up” he muttered to himself

He decided he wasn’t going to wait any longer and try the potion himself she would just have to wait. The potion was a pale orange colour, almost peach. It was a thick substance, thinker than toothpaste. Draco had added peppermint extract so it would smell nice too. He rolled up the sleeve of his black shirt to just about his elbow to reveal a jagged scar on the inside of his right arm about three inches below the crease of his elbow, it was from where Buckbeak attacked him. He hated that scare as it reminded him of being humiliated in front of everyone. He lifted the stirrer out of the cauldron and smeared the paste like potion over the scar. It was warm from sitting on the heat for the last hour but quickly cooled and solidified into a jelly like material. Unsure of how long to leave it there he decided the longer the better. He began to take notes of everything that was going on, like the textures, colour, smell and how long he was going to leave it when Hermione bust in the door of the classroom

“I am so sorry, I completely forgot” she said out of breath from running from the common room

“You’re late” Draco responded sarcastically happy

“I think it’s because it’s Sunday and I had a lazy day and” Hermione suddenly stopped talking when she realised she was explaining herself to Draco.

“Is that it?” she asked curiously as she approached the potion

“Yes and we’re just about to find out of if it works” Draco peeled the orange jelly from his arm to reveal that it had in fact work. He wanted to jump up and punch the air in excitement but decided to be more reserved in Hermione’s presence so instead he just smirked

“How do I know it has actually worked you could have just put it anywhere” she questioned not knowing herself why she was doubting his ability

“Well believe me if you want, but remember it was you who chose the ingredients so if it doesn’t work that’s on you”

“I don’t remember adding peppermint to my list” she retorted, she knew the moment she entered the room it had been used by its minty sweet smell.

“Fine” Draco sighed and began to unbutton his shirt

“What in the name of Merlin are you doing?” Hermione shrieked

“You want to see if it works don’t you?” Draco opened his shirt to reveal several scars across his chest and stomach “I have plenty of scars to prove you wrong”

Hermione didn’t know where to look, at his scars, to look away, or to look at his nicely defined abs which she wished she hadn’t noticed. The whole situation was extremely uncomfortable for her.

“I’m sure you have other scars, that don’t involve you taking your clothes off Malfoy”

“Well, probably yes, but I’m not particularly fond of these ones, a gift from St. Potter himself”

“Sectumsempra” she whispered becoming a little more intrigued by them

“That’s the one”

He lifted the stirrer from the cauldron again and spread the concoction over a scar at the top of his stomach on the left hand side

“This one took the longest to heal” he said as he made sure it was in every crevice of the scar

Hermione watched as the potion turned into its jelly like form over his scar and then her eyes drifted to the others slashed over his chest. She began to feel sorry for him almost when she remembered that Harry had said that Draco tried to use the cruciatus curse

“Didn’t you try and throw crucio at him?” she asked, rhetorically, not expecting him to answer

“Tried to” he admitted “But that was then, I know you wouldn’t see it from my point of view anyway”

“Probably not”

“I was being sarcastic, I didn’t think you were that narrow minded”

“Narrow minded! You don’t know me to say something like that”

“And you don’t know me either, I’ve yet again been proven right about how self-absorbed you are”

“And how is that?”

Draco didn’t answer, for one he didn’t feel like repeating the argument they just had or dragging up old ones either, and secondly he was trying not to fight with people, and sadly that included Hermione. He began to peel off the potion from his stomach

“Hmmm not completely gone, but faded”

Hermione completely forgot they had been arguing

“It works” she gasped in disbelief

“Longer the next time, it must depend on the size and depth of the scar”

“I can’t believe that I actually made it work” she smiled

“You made it work?”

“It was my concept and I done the research”

“Yes, but you know you wouldn’t have been able to brew it and besides I had to change loads of your measurement”

“Ugh you’re so annoying, I suppose you want to call it the Draco Malfoy potion or something as equally obnoxious”

“Why would I want to name it after me? I wasn’t looking for all the credit, just some acknowledgement Granger”

“But you said”

“What I done” he cut her off “You’re the one who said I made it work, see self-absorbed” he smiled

Hermione laughed a little, it was like a laugh in disbelief that he caught her out, she didn’t believe she was self-absorbed but she couldn’t argue with him on this. He caught her fair and square

“Aha so she has a sense of humour” he teased as he buttoned up his shirt

“Who are you?” Hermione asked confused “Did I just laugh at one of your snide remarks?”

“Come on we better get out of here before the room locks for the night”

“What?” she asked confused

“Yea, Professor Flitwick was telling me, they have charms on the entire classroom doors that they lock at a certain time every night so no students can take advantage of the classrooms”

“Meaning?”

“Well the potions room is a bit obvious as to why it would be locked” he placed his hand on the door and pulled back tight

“Oh shit”

“Very funny Malfoy”

He smiled and then went to push the door open instead, and then began to panic when nothing happened. He took out his wand

“Alohamora”

“Ugh get out of my way” Hermione pushed passed him then gripped the handle of the door. She pushed it first and nothing happened, then she tried to pull it back but still nothing

“You’ve got to be kidding me” she took out her wand “Alohamora”

“Did you not just see me doing all that?”

“I thought you were just fooling around!”

“Yes because the idea of being stuck in here with you is hilarious”

“Well your sense of humour has always been twisted”

“At least I have one”

Draco took his wand up again and tried to undo the hinges of the door, but it was no use, whatever charm had been placed was a good one. They were stuck there till the reopened in the morning! It was going to be a long night.

“This is just fantastic” Hermione groaned

“Well maybe if you had of arrived on time we wouldn’t be in this mess”

“My fault?” she protested unable to think of a reason why it wouldn’t be her fault, but sadly for her it was

“Yes yours” he sat on a desk “Not just the fact we’re locked in, but the fact the locks are necessary”

“Meaning?”

“You and the gruesome twosome, running round the castle at night brewing potions of all sorts, like polyjuice in second year for instance”

“You knew about that?” Hermione asked intrigued he had figured out that it was Harry and Ron disguised as Crabbe and Goyle “Hold on, you almost killed Ron with that Cherry Meade”

“Oh you knew about that?” he admitted defeat

“Harry knew before we went back to Hogwarts that summer that something was up with you” she sat on a desk, two down , and across from him.

“If we have to be stuck here all night can we not argue I don’t have the energy for it, and Merlin knows you’ve got an answer for everything I could throw at you”

Draco got up from the table and grabbed his jumper off another, folded it, then placed it on the floor. He lay down and used it as a pillow.

“Fine”

Hermione was happy he had said it, she didn’t feel much like arguing with anyone. She mimicked his actions with the jumper, feeling glad she had been wearing a think zippy, it was a much better pillow that his pullover jumper.

They lay in silence for an hour trying to fall asleep, but it was impossible lying on the floor, in each other’s company. Hermione was beginning to wish she had beaded bag with a bed in it! Or that she knew how to turn a table into a bed. The everlasting awkward silence was killing her so she decided to break it.

“Let’s play twenty questions”

“What’s that?” he rolled his eyes, but it was better than the dead quiet they had been listening to

“Em ok, I ask a question and you answer it with one word” She never had to explain it before, most people knew what it was

Draco sat up and looked over at her “Did you really just ask me that?”

“It’s a question isn’t it?”

“Neither”

“You have to pick one!”

“Daphne”

“I really thought you would have said Pansy”

“No she bored me, plus Daphne is easy”

“Ah so I can re-tick shallow on my Draco Malfoy personality traits list”

“Re-tick?”

“Well for a while I was beginning to think you had some morals this year”

“You could have fooled me”

“I thought we weren’t arguing?”

Every bone in his body wanted to say well you started it but he refrained from it to keep it civil like he had said

“Potter or Weasley?”

“That’s not fair!”

“It’s as fair as the one you asked me”

“Well you know I have history with Ron”

“I didn’t actually, now I do, but I had history with Pansy”

“And Harry is like family, so is Ron that’s why it never worked out”

“You still have to pick” he smirked

“Fine, Ron”

“And now we’re playing fairly”

“I don’t want to play anymore” she hugged her knees into her chest

Draco rearranged his jumper around and lay back down and tried to get comfy

“Don’t you own any casual clothes?” she jeered

“This is casual”

“Hmm, it’s Sunday you still look like you’re going to class”

“Presentation is everything”

“Well no one’s looking”

“You clearly are” he smiled to himself, he knew she’d hate that “Been watching me closely have you Granger?”

“That’s not what I meant”

“So why did you want to come back?”

He sat up again and looked directly at her

“Why did you want to?”

She thought about it for a second, this place meant more to her than just getting good grades and ahead in life, it was the only place she could truly be herself. She smiled softly at him as to say I understand

“As much as we bicker Granger, I’m sure you’ve noticed we’re rather similar, why do you think it was so easy for me to tear you down”

“We’re nothing alike”

“Sure we are, both an only child, academically great, both have friends but yet still feel isolated, always feel like the outsider. That’s how I knew calling you a mudblood would break you, you see like your home and to feel like a reject here would be crushing”

“Now who’s been watching who closely?” she asked feeling very vulnerable, it was like he’d been reading a bio she wrote about herself out loud, well rather, the things she’d be afraid to admit about herself.

“I’m a very perceptive person”

Hermione stayed silent.

“I’m guessing I was right then?”

“How do you feel isolated? You’ve always had people in your corner”

“You have to, it’s just a feeling, no reason that I’m aware of”

“Why be so honest?”

“Why lie?”

“Well you didn’t have to say anything”

“It’s going to be a long year here, maybe understanding each other will help. If I have to see you every day and spend time with you we may as well get along”

Hermione studied his expression it was one she had never seen before. He was so relaxed his face appeared calm. He no longer looked ill like she had remembered him being during the war. He wasn’t smiling but something told her he was happy, however, something about his eyes still made them hard to look directly into they were cold and sad.

“Maybe you’re right, it would make studying less tense”

Draco nodded in approval he no longer got a thrill from causing conflict. He looked at her face, she wasn’t the dorky little girl he had always remembered, she looked more grown up and refined. For a moment he thought she was quite pretty compared to the picture of Hermione Granger he had always had in his memory.

“So are you saying we should be friends?” she thought aloud

“Kind of, just have a better understanding of each other I’m not saying we should start eating lunch together”

“Ok deal”

“Deal” he stretched out his hand to shake hers, it was a small act, but a big gesture. She took his hand in hers and shook firmly smiling a little. She noticed a slight tingle in her hand when she took his, like the feeling you get when you pick up your wand but thought nothing of it.

“I think we should probable try and sleep” she suggested she didn’t really want to start getting into this new found relationship with Draco. She wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about it.

“Was thinking the same” he was relieved he would finally have Hermione off his back. The whole good karma thing was looking up for him.

0o0o0

“Hermione!!” Harry shouted as she returned to the Gryffindor common room the next morning “Where were you last night? Ginny said you never came back”

“I got locked in a classroom with Malfoy”

“WHAT?” Harry and Ron chanted at the same time

“It was fine actually, we just went to sleep, well tried to”

Ron hugged her tightly “It must have been bloody awful”

“Not really, we made a deal to get along with one another for the rest of the year”

“Unlikely” he rolled his eyes

“I know but at least it was better than arguing the whole night, thanks for looking for me by the way you guys” she punched Ron’s shoulder

“Well, we only found out this morning and Ginny said she went to bed early and thought you’d be back but when she woke up early and realised your bed was still made”

“It’s ok I’m kidding”

Her friends waited as she changed into her uniform and they all headed for the great hall for breakfast. As they walked in Hermione glanced over at the Slytherin table to see Draco seated with Blaise and Daphne who were playing tonsil tennis over their cornflakes. She smirked to herself at the awkwardness of the situation to her surprise Draco looked up from his copy of the daily prophet and gave her a friendly nod. Ron noticed this too and he looked at Hermione who was still smiling a little

“He’s not actually serious is he” he whispered to her

“What?”

“That little nod, like that makes it all ok”

“Ron you’re over analysing this”

“No you’re trusting the wrong person”

“No one said I trusted him”

“You smiled at him”

“I was already smiling at how Blaise and Daphne were snogging the face off each other”

“I don’t like this” he sighed as they all sat at the Gryffindor table

“Relax Ron it was just a hello nod, it’s not like he shouted mudblood at me”

“I think I would have preferred that, at least you know where you stood then”

“Chill Ron” Harry added looking over his shoulder at Draco and also gave a friendly nod

“Oh so now you’re nodding at him too”

Hermione and Harry laughed at Ron, the both looked at each other and waited for Ron to look up then nodded at him

“There do you feel better now” she giggled

“Don’t come crying to me when he does something horrible” he got up from the table grabbed two slices of toast and left the Great Hall in a huff

“I don’t see what his problem is Harry, we just agreed to be nice to one another for the rest of the year”

“I know I’ve been pushing for you to be friendly to Malfoy, but it’s just such a big change to actually hear you say it, and sound like you mean it”

“I’m tired of fighting Harry, it’s not like I’m going to be eating lunch with his every day and letting him braid my hair”

“Braid your hair?” Harry Laughed

“You know what I mean, I’m not replacing you’s it’s just to get by”

“I know” he chuckled again “But personally if you can convince Draco Malfoy to Braid your hair I want to witness it”